Orphington: hen or roo?

[sgtsalt79]

Here is my 2- month- old blue orphington and to it's left is a brown and black orphington from the same hatch. I was really hoping the blue would be female because it's so pretty but that comb is looking a bit red. We have no clue about the black one because it has a typical orph comb and the blue one has a pea comb. Any guesses? We need to give away some birds! We currently have 17 and only need 12.

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[sgtsalt79]

Here's the blue one again

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Male. There's no way a pea-combed female would have that much comb. And are you sure that's an 8-week old bird? Looks older to me.

Also, I don't think that's an Orp. Looks like an Ameraucana to me. Orps don't have pea-combs or beards. You say "from the same hatch:" were there any blue or green eggs in the batch? The brown and black one isn't an Orpington, either.

 

[donrae]

both those birds are males, and neither one are Orpingtons. the blue one could be an Ameraucana or an Easter egger, the black and brown bird just looks like a mixed breed rooster.

Getting rid of those two will get you down to 15 birds.

 

[sgtsalt79]

This is very strange. I don't know what color the eggs were because I got these birds from a certified hatchery! The owner told me she breeds multi colored orphs for show. I know her and would be surprised if she let her chickens get cross-bred. Hmm....

 

[donrae]

This is very strange. I don't know what color the eggs were because I got these birds from a certified hatchery! The owner told me she breeds multi colored orphs for show. I know her and would be surprised if she let her chickens get cross-bred. Hmm....

You need to contact her and send her these pictures.

first off, to show a bird, it has to be a specific color as set forth in the standard of perfection for that breed. You can't show "multi-colored" birds. That's kind of a red flag for me, unless you mean she breeds multiple colors--buffs and blues and blacks, for example.

And neither of those birds look remotely like an Orpington. Orps are rounded, fluffy, basketball looking birds. You need a refund.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I agree with the others. Both roos and neither one an orp!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

You need to contact her and send her these pictures.

first off, to show a bird, it has to be a specific color as set forth in the standard of perfection for that breed. You can't show "multi-colored" birds. That's kind of a red flag for me, unless you mean she breeds multiple colors--buffs and blues and blacks, for example.

And neither of those birds look remotely like an Orpington. Orps are rounded, fluffy, basketball looking birds. You need a refund.

x2. Give the seller a call, get a refund, get her to take these birds back.

I would believe the blue is an actual Ameraucana (not an EE, like most birds we see) but the red one is def. a cross-bred. You were not sold Orpingtons, and they don't even look like Orp crosses.

Finally, the age you gave on the birds is off. I'd say those boys are closer to 16 weeks old. The Ameraucana's starting to get saddle feathers, etc.

 

[sgtsalt79]

They were hatched Sep. 9th. I'm sure of that because they were tiny fuzzies when we got them a few days later. As for the breed I'm still shocked that the woman who runs the hatchery would be so far off. She takes a lot of pride in her birds and seems very knowledgeable and professional.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

They were hatched Sep. 9th. I'm sure of that because they were tiny fuzzies when we got them a few days later. As for the breed I'm still shocked that the woman who runs the hatchery would be so far off. She takes a lot of pride in her birds and seems very knowledgeable and professional.

So, closer to 11 weeks. Makes more sense than two months, which I was reading as 8 weeks. That's why we always use weeks to give the age of a chicken that's less than a year old, it saves a lot of confusion. A chicken does a lot of changing in just a few weeks!

Maybe she just made a mistake (although that red and brown mutt bird is no mistake) as the blue bird does look to be a true Ameraucana and that's fairly rare. Usually we see EEs instead of actual Ams. He would have hatched from a blue egg though, so that's a hard mistake to make.